Tuesday, 25 May 2010

Okay, I wasn't going to bother writing about this one, but Action Ash's positive review made me want to redress the balance of 2 Bad Guys. I also read Avengers #1 this week and thought it rather sucked. I had high hopes for this Avengers series, after several years of it I'd grown sick of Bendis' New Avengers and had been hoping this new Heroic Age will bring back the thrill of Avengers old. Well it tries, but it's just... off.

I have two major problems with the plot; it seems Bendis hasn't really read any Kang stories recently, seeing as here he has the character make a big deal out of this being THE ONE TIME we're in this together, FOR ONCE their goals are the same. FOR ONCE Kang's supposed to be on the side of the angels. This is clearly bollocks. Just a couple of months ago he was helping The Guardians of the Galaxy and there was Avengers Forever; a popular, year-long series where he was essentially an Avenger himself, he also started the young Avengers as Iron Lad. In fact in recent years, Kang War epic notwithstanding, it seems he’s spent more time helping the Avengers and other heroes out or thwarting the schemes of his future self, Immortus, than causing any kind of mischief (OK, Kang War was pretty brutal).

My other main issue is that the first big story seems to set up a fight with Wonder Man (who's regrown his mullet and seems to be being turned into the Bishop of the Avengers) and the proposed murder of their own children. Yep, welcome to the Age of Heroes folks! Where Infanticide and beating on your friends is the order of the day. I’m not sure if I'm interested or not that the kids are the ones introduced in the Avengers Next straight to DVD Movie, but it's probably worth noting.

I can't really fault the art, JR JR is dependable as ever, albeit the subject matter makes this more World War Hulk than Kick-Ass, I prefer his work on street level (or rather roof top) heroes, feeling his Big Ass Bold Super Duper Guys work can be a little bit uninspiring, compared to his more human works. It's still great but y’know...

This issue also features "An oral history of the Avengers" or as it should be called "More Bendis Filler Crap" where we have page after page with a bout six sentences of conversation on. Tony Stark thinks Jan is hot; she was with Hank Pym because of Daddy Issues; Pym was married before - I'd forgotten that. That is pretty much all we learn here. It would be a fun addition on the Marvel website or something, but as it is this seems to be the extras that Marvel are using to justify the £3.99 price tag; some Fan Fiction BMB wrote in about 20 minutes accompanied by stock ensemble pictures. See Criminal/Incognito for 'back-matter' done right.